Improvement in hemmers for sewing-machines



W. H. THOMAS. Hemmer for Sewing Machines.

"7 TNES 5 es N. PETERS. Pnolo'l lhugmphurhwashingim, 0. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

W. H. THOMAS, OF GALVESTON, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEMMERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 75,079, dated March 3,1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W. H. THOMAS, of Galveston, in the county of Cassand State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Hemmer-Attachment for Sewing-Machines and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to a new and improved hemmer for,sewing-machines;and it consists in a novel construction of the same, as hereinafterfully shown and described, whereby a hem may be turned or foldedunderneath the fabric, and without the necessity of previous folding andholding the hem or fabric during the process of stitching, the fabricbeing folded and retained in a folded state by the hemmer as the formeris drawn through the latter under the feed-motion of the sewing-machineand the hem is being stitched.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or top view ofmy invention; Fig. 2, an inverted plan of the same; Fig. 3, a transversesection of the same, taken in the line aa, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

I construct the hemmer out of a piece of sheet metal, bent so as to formthree guides, a I) c, the front edges of the upper and lower guides a bbeing beveled at their front edges, and the two guides being what may betermed of scoop form, h avin g a very grad ual curve to facilitate theturning or folding of the fabric.

The central guide 0 is connected with the lower guide I) at theright-hand end of the device, for a short distance only, as shown at din Figs. 1 and 2. This central guide 0 is of uniform width its wholelength, and has a horizontal central position between a and b, thespaces between a c and b 0 being gradually diminished from the left tothe right hand end of the device.

To'the under side of the bottom guide b there is attached a narrowplate, 01", which extends backward in an oblique direction, and servesas a deflector to turn the fabric under as it is drawn along by thefeed-motion of the machine.

Between the inner edge of the guide 0 and the curvature formed by thejunction of the guides a b, there is allowed a spacevfor the fabric topass downward fromabove the central guide 0 underneath the same, theedge of the fabric turning over the outer or front edge of c to form asmall or narrow fold. This small fold, designated by e, is formed by theangle f at the left-hand end of the curve d, which forms the connectionbetween the central guide 0 and the lower guide b.

The needle of the machine passes through three thicknesses of thefabric, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. As the fabric is drawnthrough the device, the deflector 01" causes the fabric to turn or foldunder, and assists in forming or giving the proper direction to thefabric, all the folds of which given by the hemmer are shown in Fig. 3.

In commencing the work of forming a hem, the fabric is folded at oneedge by handsay for a distance of about two inchesand adjusted in thehemmer, and drawn through sufficiently that the feed mechanism of themachine may engage with and draw it along, the hemmer then doing therest of the folding.

It will be understood that the fabric first passes over the centralguide c, downward around the inner edge of the same, and thence alongunderneath c to the front edgeof the same, and upward over the frontedge of the same, it being made to lap over the front edge of c at theangle f to form the fold 0, before alluded to.

The hemmer has a tongue, h, attached, provided with a slot, throughwhich a setscrew passes into the cloth-plate, to secure the hemmer tothe same.

These hemmers may be made of different sizes to admit of hems ofdifferent widths being made or folded.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is- A The deflector d", in combination withthe guides at b a, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 13th day ofDecember 1867.

w. H. THoMAs.

Witnesses:

MEREDITH H. THOMAS, H. L. THOMAS.

